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How one intrepid adventurer faced his battle with cancer

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As a globe-trotting cameraman and photographer, Paddy Scott’s career has taken him on daring expeditions.

His passion for the wilderness has sent him across Antarctica to the South Pole not once but twice. He’s been paddle-boarding in the Amazon, kite-skiing in Greenland (with British Olympic skier, Chemmy Alcott), and has even scaled the Himalayas.

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But when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer and liver metastasis in March 2017, Scott, now 35, embarked upon an entirely different kind of journey.

Prior to a cross-country skiing expedition in Poland’s Bieszczady mountains, Scott paid a visit to his GP to discuss a bout of persistent and worsening stomach cramps, who suggested running some blood tests.

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“I was going skiing with a friend who I have climbed with a lot in the past and done various expeditions,” he recalls. “We are normally of a similar level of fitness, however out in Poland I found myself continually exhausted and struggling to keep up.”

When Scott mentioned this to his GP, alarm bells rang. Within days, he was booked in for an endoscopy at the hospital, where doctors discovered he had bowel cancer. Subsequent blood tests and scans revealed that it had spread to his liver.  

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At the same time, Scott found out that one of his images, ‘The Unstoppable Force’, would feature in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition, to be shown in the Natural History Museum.

“As a photographer, this was a huge honour,” he says. “I can remember reasoning with myself that if my cancer was terminal, I really hoped to be able to make it to October to see my image in the museum.

“The word ‘cancer’ seems to have an effect on people that other diseases don’t seem to have. I know that influenced how I felt. In my head, the idea that I would be able to survive cancer that was so advanced, that had spread, was not possible.

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“Obviously, there are many people that sadly do not survive the same diagnosis, but I really think it is important to talk about the fact that cancer is beatable in many situations.”

Scott’s doctors came up with a plan of action that included intensive chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Treatment began within a matter of days.

“I had two drugs in my chemotherapy cocktail,” he recalls. “I would go into the ward every fortnight and be hooked up to the pump that would take a few hours to give me the first drug, then before leaving the hospital, I would be connected to a portable pump that would drip the second drug in over 48 hours.

“After my first round, I went back in for the follow up, and said to the nurse that I thought they should up the dose, as I didn’t feel any side effects. She explained to me that I was already on the maximum dose.”

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Whether he’s navigating the extreme sastrugi (wind-carved ice ‘waves’) of Antarctica in a tractor, or recovering from nine hours of liver and bowel surgery, Scott’s approach is overwhelmingly positive: to “take each day as it comes”.

(Related: How to cancer-proof your diet)

“One of the reasons I like being on an expedition so much or working in a dangerous place is that it makes life very simple,” he says. “All the white noise of life disappears, and just surviving and capturing what is in front of you becomes your only goal. Each day feels like an achievement.

“As I progressed more and more with the treatment, I definitely felt myself slipping into this mind-set.”

One year, 12 sessions of chemotherapy, 10 days of radiotherapy and one mammoth operation later, Scott was back at work, covering the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

He felt “incredibly lucky to go back to work with just a couple of big scars” and is planning a solo expedition across Iceland, from west to east, to raise money for charity. No mean feat considering the country’s unforgiving weather conditions.

(Related: How to prepare for extreme expeditions)

“Even in the Icelandic summer, huge storms can sweep across the island and much of the interior is essentially a desert of black lava that doesn’t give much shelter from the elements,” he says. “Thick cloud and fog can also make navigating in the often-featureless terrain quite a challenge.”

The entire endeavour, which he estimates will take approximately one month, will be documented in a photographic exhibition, which he hopes will raise even more money.

“Not only do charities like Cancer Research UK offer vital support and guidance to people going through cancer treatments, but campaigns like Stand Up To Cancer invest in game-changing research, meaning that there are some brilliant treatments on the horizon which hopefully will be better and kinder for people,” he says.

Earlier this month, a scan revealed cancer cells on Scott’s liver. As a result, he has been told he must undergo a further three months of chemotherapy. He hopes to be cancer free by Christmas.

Scott is supporting Stand Up To Cancer, a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 to accelerate ground-breaking cancer research and save lives. 

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